Sonia Gechtoff & James Kelly Exhibition “A Non-Objective Couple”

Anita Shapolsky Gallery

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The Anita Shapolsky Gallery presents “A Non-Objective Couple”, an exhibition featuring partners Sonia Gechtoff and James Kelly. This exhibition features some of the remaining works of these artists’ oeuvres. As prime examples of the San Francisco School of Abstract Expressionism’s raw, unique talent, Gechtoff and Kelly’s experimental approaches are exemplary of the collective coolness of the Bay Area. Inspired by poetry, particularly by their contemporaries of the Beat generation, Gechtoff, Kelly, and their peers viewed painting as the visual component of literature, engaging distant figuration, swirling motifs, and representations of verbal expression in their paintings. While their meeting in California greatly inspired their work, in 1958, the couple decided to move to New York City, where Gechtoff continues her painting practice to this day.

Sonia Gechtoff (b. 1926) is considered one of the most influential female Abstract Expressionists. She was greatly inspired by Clyfford Still, and through her exploration of the movement crafted her signature style; using a loaded palette knife to create vibrant, gestural strokes at large scales. Her work is part of numerous international museum collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Guggenheim Museum, New York, The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and The Whitney Museum of American Art, Currently, Gechtoff is one of the twelve women featured in the traveling Denver Art Museum exhibition, “Women of Abstract Expressionism”, curated by Gwen Chanzit.

James Kelly (1913-2003) had a career which spanned nearly seven decades, including paintings and graphic works. While his work in his native Philadelphia had a much more of a geometric quality, inspired by Piet Mondrian, his move to California in 1950 changed his style to more gestural, using thick impasto oil paint and swirling common of the San Francisco scene. Kelly’s work is part of many permanent collections including The San Francisco Museum of Art, The Los Angeles Museum of Art, The Harvard University Art Museum, and The Whitney Museum of American Art.